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Post by Night Ω Wolfe on Dec 2, 2006 13:27:13 GMT -5
I can give you a starting point Whiplash.... also I am curious cause I am obsessed with learning about religions and mythology too So I have two questions: 1) Which religion do you find the most interesting and that you relate to most (if you don't believe in any particular religion which comes closest to what you DO believe)? 2) Which religion is the craziest or most unique in your opinion (I am looking for one that you just can't believe people actually believe in)? Also anyone who knows about ANY religions please feel free to post as well with your answers. Even if you don't know a lot about a particular religion but have heard things that makes you think it probably falls into one of the above categories feel free to post your ideas and what you heard. One of us will probably be able to tell you if what you heard is correct and fill in the blanks for you. One last thing... religion can be difficult to talk about sometimes because a lot of people out there have such a strong belief that they can become very upset or defensive when it comes to their own religion. Therefore if you think you may at all be this type of person then STOP READING now. I do not want to start any angry debates or have this thread be the cause of anyone feeling hurt or offended. But... one of my strongest beliefs is the idea that we have "free will" and no one should be condemned for what they believe. I also believe that free discussion on the matter of religions whether you are speaking of something you personally believe or just contemplating the outrageousness of any other religion is a very important part of discovering ones own spirituality. So I will not hold anyone back in this thread unless they are being outright insulting. Feel free to talk about certain beliefs that you find to be wild or whatever but do so without condemning the people who believe in that religion. I am not sure if this makes sense so I will give an example.... Something like this is acceptable: The beliefs of religion X are totally outrageous. Something like this is NOT acceptable: What kind of wacko would actually believe in religion X? See the difference? It is okay to question ideas without targeting the people who have those ideas.... So anyway thats all I had to say, feel free to start chatting :wink:
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Post by AREA666 on Dec 2, 2006 18:28:13 GMT -5
I had a question for you as well. In 2000 I was in the Marines in a school for my job and one of my room mates claimed to be a Satanist. At the time I had always thought of them as being the people who worship Satan, but he had told me differently. He said that they are people who simply believe in themselves, they do not believe in a God, Satan, etc. I had started to read his copy of the Satanic Bible, but did not get to far since people were annoying me basically so I am not sure if his claims on it are true. If they are then I think that many people would be surprised since I think many people would find out they could be classified as a Satanist. So basically I want to know if that is what they are, or if they are the ones indeed who worship Satan, sacrifice goats, and all that stuff that seems to be associated with them.
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Whiplash
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Post by Whiplash on Dec 2, 2006 18:28:30 GMT -5
well to answer the first question: i guess i would most identify with the celtic religion, or wicca, very earth based, personal power, that sort of stuff. to answer the second question: the craziest religion to me is mormonism (no offense to anyone who is mormon, i just dont get it) but the most unique religion to me would be voodoo. voodoo or vaudun to me is something that is totally pure. its all what YOU wish to believe and not what others tell you to believe. your own personal power is built on your on beliefs and who you choose to worship, not what others say.
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Whiplash
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Post by Whiplash on Dec 2, 2006 18:35:42 GMT -5
I had a question for you as well. In 2000 I was in the Marines in a school for my job and one of my room mates claimed to be a Satanist. At the time I had always thought of them as being the people who worship Satan, but he had told me differently. He said that they are people who simply believe in themselves, they do not believe in a God, Satan, etc. I had started to read his copy of the Satanic Bible, but did not get to far since people were annoying me basically so I am not sure if his claims on it are true. If they are then I think that many people would be surprised since I think many people would find out they could be classified as a Satanist. So basically I want to know if that is what they are, or if they are the ones indeed who worship Satan, sacrifice goats, and all that stuff that seems to be associated with them. well to answer your question, what he said is true, kind of. satanists dont believe that satan was evil. In old hebrew and sanscript, satan or lucifer means "the accuser" or basiclly the guy who says "hold on a sec". Satanist believe that there is no afterlife, that there is only the here and now, and that we should enjoy. the sins of flesh are not to be shyed away from, but embraced. Satanist do hold what is called "A Black Mass" but it is more a fun sort of play, parodying normal christian religion. They invoke satan and ask him to give them guidence into helping them lead a life filled with pleasure and personal exploration and knowledge. Knowledge is what satanists seek. i guess you could say, that back when god forbid adam and eve to eat of the tree of knowledge, but satan or the serpent talked eve into eating an apple, thats when satanism started. god didnt want people to all the knowledge and cast them out for that knowledge. satanists believe that knowledge is everything, similar to the gnostics ( an off shoot of christanity). i hope that answers your question. if you want further info, just let me know here.
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Post by AREA666 on Dec 2, 2006 19:03:06 GMT -5
Well lets see, your answer works well, but is there possibly a sub-sect, or anything you know of that might more closely match what he had told me? Since he made it seem like they did not believe in a Satan or anything makes if go against your description.
Another question is what religion you think would most closely match what I believe in, or dont believe in. You mentioned something called Vaudun, which sounds like maybe what I could say I am. But anyway I basically think that there COULD be a God, or something like that, but I only do it because I like the idea of life going on. So to go with that I really like the idea of reincarnation. I use it as a way to explain why I like things in the past so much, such as the Greek Spartans, the Titanic, etc. I believe that I should not need to do anything to please a god or anything either. I think that if there are things like a Heaven or Hell that they are mearly holding places for souls before they are to be reincarnated and that the souls are not inherantly good or evil, so they are placed in either area depending on the actions done in the physical life. Due to that it means that an eternity spent in either one is not possible and also I think that there is, always has been, and always will be the same number of souls. Oh, animals also get souls because I like to believe that I will see my past pets when I die, unless of course their souls are already reincarnated but it is not likely since it would take many many years to go through the rest of the souls. I guess the only other thing I can think of right now that may relate is my thoughts on infinity and that I think that anything and everything that can happen is happening somewhere out there and is also happening in an infinite number of places. So somewhere out there my beliefs are a religion with a name, I just do not know if this version of reality is one of them.
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Whiplash
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Post by Whiplash on Dec 2, 2006 19:16:53 GMT -5
well there are many sub sects of satanism: the temple of set, the temple of the nine angels, sect of satan, even the gnostics have been villiphed by the church. some groups of satanists are different. the more extreme ones dont follow the church of satan doctorine. they believe in killing, and human sacrifice as such. some even, such as the temple of the nine angels, are white supremists, and haulocast deniers. but most satanists are good people who just arent into main stream religion.
to answer your second question, your beliefes could match any number of religions. your belief in reincarnation and heaven and hell just being rest stops on the way to the next life is similer to druidism. they believe in a place called the summer land. its where the soul of the dead go before being reincarnated. it is also close to buddism. they believe in reincarnation. the deeds you do in this life affect your next life. thats where we get karma from. you do bad deeds you try again in the next life. though it will be a sucky life, such as being reincarnated into a snail or something. vaudun is something of a magic oriented religion. they believe in beings called the lao. they are basiclly the souls of ancestors who have become and joined other lao. they use the lao to do voodoo and other things such as necromancy (talking to the dead, spirits to learn the future and answer questions).
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Post by AREA666 on Dec 2, 2006 19:31:13 GMT -5
What are some major characteristics of Druidism then? I do not think that my actions of this life affect the next one, I just mearly can remember some things, so I dont think Buddism would fit enough for me. Like basically each reincarnation is a clean slate, although the past memories can provide infuence when making a decision which could be like the deja vu stuff. So the flesh and the soul both make the decisions I guess I could say.
Any religions that deal with magic that would be ones like in Sacred or anything that you know of? I love fantasy stuff so if there are religions that are close to that then I would be interested.
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Whiplash
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Post by Whiplash on Dec 2, 2006 19:50:06 GMT -5
well the main charactoristics of druidism are: the belief thats the gods (yes i said gods) are in nature. they are involved in every aspect of your life. sometimes modern druids are called neo-pagans, but they dont exactly believe in what ancient druids believed. the druids did have a pantheon of gods. from THE goddess or Dana, Danu, Dannan, to different gods such as the Morrigan ( a triple goddess of battle), to Cromm Cruach ( a god of death), Essus (a nature god) , the Green Man (symbolizes rebirth and the begining of spring), Mannanan Mic Lir (a god of the sea, where the Isle of Man gots its name), Eire (a god of battle, where Ireland gots its name, Eire's Land).
The term druid is a rather specific term. The ancient celts were not druids, they had druids. the druids acted as healers, diviners, mediators, judges, doctors but were also fierce warriors (similar to Sacred's BM. and most people think the celts are only in Ireland, but that is not true. The Celts were originaly from main land europe. They even warred with Rome, and almost won. there are still celtic tribes all over europe, from germany to spain, france to romania. the celts that we think of today traveled to ireland, that had already been inhabited by other peoples. in celtic myth, the island was inhabited by the Furblogs, a magical race, but not the last magical race that inhabited the island. with the celts traveled the tales of the Sidhe, or what most people call faries now. the term sidhe usually is not meant of the people, but for the mounds they dwell in. Sidhe also means "the hidden people" in ancient Gaelic. So from all of this, we get what most people think of today. but real druidism is closely tied to nature, and personal power, using nature, becoming one with nature and allowing it to guide you through life. this is the religion i most identify with, not just becuase of my irish heritage, but also their teachings.
sidhe is pronounced "she"
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Post by AREA666 on Dec 2, 2006 20:26:41 GMT -5
Interesting stuff. Many gods is definatly not a problem for me. I prefer there being more then one, it makes things more interesting I think. I like the old religions with their many gods that are for the most part no longer worshipped like the Greek and Norse gods.
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Post by Hallelujah on Dec 2, 2006 22:53:39 GMT -5
Very interesting. The nature-based religions are fascinating to me. Have met several shamans, pagans, wiccans, some who called themselves "kitchen witches", but never anyone who thought of themselves as a druid. Would love to know more about them. I used to have recurring dreams as a child about men I called druids. Of course, that's probably just a child's fancy, but that's what I called them.
As for satanists, I have only met one that I remember. He was not of one of extreme sects, though. He was more along the lines of the guy that Area was talking about. There are different sects and extremists in just about every religion.
I do not consider myself to be affiliated with any organized religion. My belief system has evolved through the years from my studies, experiences and from knowledge gleaned from various people. I tend to go by what feels right to me, as I'm sure most people do. I guess if I had to put a label of any kind on my beliefs, I'd just fit under the generalized term New Age (I guess). Fits better than any other I suppose. Although it's not very satisfactory as far as labels go.
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Post by AREA666 on Dec 3, 2006 1:00:24 GMT -5
I am pretty much along the same lines as you Hal, although I am liking the Druid stuff I have heard here so far. Also a while back one of my friends out here said that there was a new religion that worships the old Norse gods. I think something like that would be very interesting. I would like to join something like that which deals with ancient god that no longer have any followers. It makes me think of a series of books I have that if a god does not have any followers then they die out, and I would not want the gods of old to die out since they are at the very least just so cool.
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Whiplash
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Post by Whiplash on Dec 3, 2006 2:42:10 GMT -5
its true that there has been a reseurgence of norse religion, it goes by a few names depending on where you are: Germanic Neo-paganism, Asatru, Odinism, Wotanism, Ford Sed, Hearthenry. it is in essence, trying to do what you are speaking of: bring the old gods, and the old ways back. in Iceland, Asatru is state recognized religion, as well in a few a other nordic countries, which legalized their marrige ceramonies, and other practices.
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Post by dragonsmith0 on Dec 3, 2006 3:21:01 GMT -5
Hey Whiplash. What kind of background information do you have on uses of crystals and general religious artifacts? I'm always digging for more information to further unite my theories.
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Whiplash
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Post by Whiplash on Dec 3, 2006 3:33:35 GMT -5
well a lot of different religions used crystals and other religious artifacts. some include, druidism, paganism, wicca, buddism, taoism, and many others. mainly they used it for divination, or future telling, healing, as well as for protection agianist evil and other spirits.
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Post by griffman on Dec 3, 2006 10:45:32 GMT -5
I have to say, I was baptized and confirmed a Catholic, but I don't believe in the religion much. I think I did it mostly to make my dad happy because he wanted me to be a Catholic really badly. I think the bible is mostly false, a narrative if you will. It makes for a good story, but it's probably not true (at least for what I've studying that contradicts what is in there). I'm not really sure what religion I would believe in if I began looking for a new one to interest me. When I was in middle school I thought I would eventually turn out to be a Daoist (Taoism) because it seemed to describe what I thought at that moment. As I got older I started to do some more research of different topics of physics and biology. I guess now my thoughts are that there might have been some sort of Creation and creation of laws for the universe to follow, but no intervention since the creation. I don't believe in reincarnation, and I don't believe in any sort of Heaven or Hell. Whiplash if you happen to know of a religion that comes closer to my beliefs than Taoism then I can research it (or you can tell me some about it ).
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